Walking distance, etc.

[magid]

I mostly walk in Cambridge, Somerville, or Boston, but my absolute range is wider. I've walked from home to/through Brookline, Newton, Watertown, Belmont, Arlington, Medford, Malden, and Everett. So when I see the phrase "within walking distance," I always wonder why that got to be the code for nearby, when "nearby" works so well.

Dang, I can't make the MIT latke-hamantashen debate this year. Phooey.

There's a T map in anagrams. I'm amused that offices for two major publishers are near the Lingo Rant station. There are some other entertaining ones as well.
(Link stolen from Hyounpark.)

I &hearts Huckabees is quite excellent. I wonder whether I'd hire existential detectives if I had the opportunity.

Comments

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

I know the T uses a walking distance radius of like half a mile for subway and a quarter of a mile for bus (IIRC). perhaps real estate people have a standard, too, whether publicized or not. I tend to use a walking time (e.g., my house is about a fifteen minute walk from Davis) which is calibrated to my own walk. My idea of "walking distance" is highly circumstance-specific.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info about the T. I still don't get why they wouldn't just say "half a mile" or "a quarter mile", since they're much more clear than "walking distance".

I know I walk faster than a lot of people, so while I use walking time to estimate how long it'll take me to (get to work, do a series of errands, or whatever), I always give longer estimates to other people.

My idea of "walking distance" is highly circumstance-specific.
*nodnod*
For me, it partly depends on how much time I have, what the weather's like, and whether it's Shabbat/a Jewish holiday. Also what others are doing, if it's a group activity.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

i guess if you want to give a general idea, like "this house is walking distance to subways, buses and stores" you won't want to give exact distances to everything.

The T uses those radii for things like route planning. I don't think they give the info out that way.

"walking distance" also kind of implies that there is a suitable walking route, like residential streets, not a highway, and not with barriers like rr tracks. I would use it that way.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Sure, but why not just say "near" instead of "walking distance to"? (Saves a whole four syllables!)

*nod* about the T.

I think there's a difference between "walking distance" and "walking route" (there are places within walking distance that require attention to walking route), but I can see them being intertwined.

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

I would say that something a fifteen minute drive away from my house is "nearby" but I certainly wouldn't call that walking distance. Walking distance narrows down the possible radius in my opinion.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've walked places that are a fifteen minute drive away, though they didn't involve much highway driving... if it's local roads, that can be pretty close. Or not, depending.

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

Julian's school is 15 minutes away by car. It's about 7 miles. That would take me around two hours. I don't have TIME for that. So I wouldn't call that walking distance.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm totally not suggesting you walk Julian 7 miles to school (and then to work). Just that technically, you *could* walk 7 miles, so technically, it is walking distance.

Plus, in Boston, getting 7 miles in 15 minutes during any commuting time would be a miracle :-).

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

realistic vs. in the land of possibility walking distance is a very different thing. I think you would agree that the majority of people would consider 7 miles too far to really call "walking distance". Technically, California is within walking distance, but how many people would really say that? I wouldn't refer to Julian's school as walking distance, but I *would* refer to it as "nearby".

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reminder about the debate! I'm going to try to make it for once.
My first batches of hamantashen will be made tomorrow! eep!

[magid.livejournal.com]

How many batches of hamantashen will you make this year? (O mighty baker of dozens and dozens of dozens.) What flavors will you use?

Perhaps this year I'll make some shaped filled breads and call it close enough :-). (Caramelized onion hamantashen? mushroom hamantashen?)

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

YUM!

[magid.livejournal.com]

*grin*

You live too far away to send them, gosh darn it.

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

yep. I'm still thinking that we'll take a day during Pesach to head down to Boston (we'll be in Maine). Unfortunately, we won't get to eat your shaped filled breads then. :(

[magid.livejournal.com]

I thought about that, too :-).

Chol ha'moed: I currently have plans to go to the Peabody Essex Museum on the Tuesday with my mom, just because we've never been there, but Sunday or Monday, I'd love to get together (in MA or ME).
(Are you driving the whole way back on Friday?)

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

Okay, we have no set plans during chol ha'moed. I believe it is our intention to leave after yom tov on (Thursday? is that when it ends?) and drive through the night, because I hate having that long a drive on a Friday. But it's entirely possible we'll just be too tired and we'll go on Friday and drive the whole way back with a contingency plan in place in case we don't make it that far.

[magid.livejournal.com]

If it helps, you could drive to Boston Thursday after chag, crash with me, and do the rest of the drive Friday. Not that it's the best split, but options are good...
(Heck, if you'd want to stay for Shabbat, that would be fine, too, though it doesn't get you closer to home :-)

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

Hee! I can't predict the numbers of batches yet. I'm making four batches (two double-batches technically, which is easier) to bring to a dance weekend this weekend. The rest will be made over the weekend before Purim and thereabouts. I'm predicting another 4-6 batches after these 4 but we'll see how the demand goes and when I get sick of baking. My housemate's sister has already accosted me, and I always have to bring some to work, and some to dance. The rest is variable.
Flavors I know about right now because I know what I bought: poppyseed, strawberry polaner all-fruit, raspberry jam, lemon curd, orange marmalade, lime marmalade (once JB gets it to me - that one's his), chocolate. And random combinations thereof - I discovered last year that strawberry chocolate is fabulous, and I'll bet raspberry chocolate is too. And, of course, lemon poppyseed.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Those all sound yummy. How do you keep the jam from running? (I had problems with red jams when I tried to make hamantaschen.)

I wonder whether chutney hamantaschen would be good?

[dancingdeer.livejournal.com]

I'd imagine chutney could work with a less sweet dough.
Don't overdo it on the jams; whenever I put too much on, it explodes outwards more. Less is better here. I'm not sure what else to recommend; it just works. Oh, and pinch the edges together reasonably well and close to the top; I think the wetter the filling, the more likely they are to spread out.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I've thought about mixing jam with ground nuts to make a more solid filling, but since at least one household I'd be giving them to is a nut-free zone (ingredient, not necessarily inhabitant :-), I don't plan to try it.

(Sudden thought: date spread.)

[mrn613.livejournal.com]

You can prevent jams running by not using jam: they sell special baking concoctions (one used to be solo but now it is Dairy equipment). These have alot less sugar. Or, you can just make your own baking fruit by boiling dried fruits with less sugar.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Oh, those pie fillings. You know, I never think to use them; somehow, though jam is fine, bought pie filling is in the 'not something we buy' bin in my head (probably because my mom never bought it, but partly because of the goop around fruits aspect of it).

Boiling dried fruit with a bit of sugar sounds better. Or maybe some fruit juice concentrate, or maple syrup.
Hm. I already made candied peel; that might be interesting in hamantaschen.

(I don't make hamantaschen, and now I've got all these ideas...)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I've made chutney hamantaschen. (Using chutney you made, in fact, if I recall correctly.) I thought they came out well. I tend to experiment with all sorts of flavors. Chocolate chips are always a good addition to jams, of course, and even work on their own. Chocolate and peanut butter... mmm... Whatever chutneys, sauces, jams, jellies or the like that are around, I use. I've never had a big problem with runny jams -- just seal carefully. Though if one leaks here and there, it doesn't really matter. They still taste good. :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'd forgotten about the chutney hamantaschen you'd made (probably because I didn't eat one...).

Taste, definitely. I was thinking of cleanup :-).

(Will you repeat the hummus hamantaschen?)

[cellio]

"Walking distance" is context-dependent. If we're talking about my daily commute (and car, bike, or public transit isn't an option), I'd consider anything over a mile to not be walking distance because I'll have to do it ten times a week. On the other hand, for a random point of interest that I'm going to visit once or twice, walking distance can be up to several miles. For instance, I walked three miles each way to visit someone in the hospital one Shabbat, but I would never accept a job that required a three-mile walking commute.

I sometimes use the phrase "easy walking distance" to address the problem you raised.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I think part of my problem is that I know people with mobility issues, so "walking distance" can really be obfuscatory. (I live near an assisted living center, too.)

I've been trying to increase my walking errands, knowing that I'm unlikely to switch to a walking commute on a regular basis (it's 3-4 miles each way), but I'm able to convince myself to do errands afoot. ("The errand's afoot!" :-) I figure that unless there's weights involved, my opportunity cost is much smaller than taking a walk for a walk's sake (and drive time + parking time is not always < walking time).

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

*snicker* I like "Ham Snots" a lot!

Erm, is the blue line new? Because I surely don't remember it from when I was there.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a cross between a southern snack food and something found at Honeydukes...

The blue line's been around for ages; it's how to get to Logan (well, before they started the silver line buses from South Station). I think I know only one person who lives on the blue line (if that), so maybe it's just that you never used it?

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

yeah, come to think of it, the ONLY time I used it was when I went to meet my boyfriend's plane once. And I only remember that trip because his flight was supposed to get in at 8 and was delayed several times. It got in around 1am, but by the time I realized how late it was going to be, it was too late to take the T to North Station and the commuter rail to Salem (where I lived). (his car was already stashed at the airport)

So I got to wander around an empty airport where nothing was open and I didn't have nearly enough reading material.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I hate not having enough to read in those sorts of situations, when it's really not an option to take a nap.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

"Walking distance" in terms of urban planning is pretty short, something on the order of like 5-10 minutes or half a mile or thereabouts. Erm, that is, if you are thinking of trying to create a dense sorta neighborhood, with businesses that people will readily walk to, you don't want to put them more than 5 or 10 minutes away from dense populations. More or less. And, while I don't have a problem walking much farther (or longer), I'm not going to dash out and grab a sandwich if I have to walk a coupla miles to do so. Or even, to be honest, one.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

I've been noticing a couple of areas with new little markets and such opening up; it's interesting to see an intersection change from a place that cars stop for a light to something closer to a square, a destination for pedestrians.